No Oscars show for broadcast TV in Venezuela

By -
Associated Press -
Monday, March 3, 2014

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Roughly half of Venezuela’s TV audience was not able to watch supporting actor winner Jared Leto express solidarity with all the “dreamers” in Ukraine and Venezuela as he accepted his Oscar.

That’s because the private channel Venevision, for the first time in several decades of carrying the Academy Awards, did not broadcast the show Sunday night.

It was carried on cable television by the TNT network, but many Venezuelans can’t afford cable.

Venevision announced via Twitter earlier Sunday that it did not have the rights to broadcast this year’s Oscars. It offered no additional explanation.

Some Venezuelans had mounted a campaign on Twitter urging participants in the Oscar ceremony to speak out in support of anti-government demonstrators. But Leto was the only one to mention their country.